Government

Approximately 50 percent of Kentucky’s 40,000 public school teachers are already eligible to retire. If all--or even most--retire this year, they might not have a pension to retire on. The state’s public school teachers aren’t allowed to draw Social Security when they retire. Nor are they allowed to draw their spouse’s Social Security if their spouse dies.

When the pension money runs out, many of the teachers who spent their lives and careers educating generations of Kentucky families could have no income to live on.

During what has become a neck and neck race for the nomination among Republican would-be’s for the Kentucky governor’s mansion, the Oldham County GOP Women’s Club heard from candidate Matt Bevin on Tuesday.

Bevin joined the group to discuss his position on families, military service, Right to Work legislation, and women’s issues.

“This War on Women argument is an unfair argument,” he said, accusing the press of manufacturing gender inequality in Republican party politics.

Right to Work legislation may have failed in Kentucky’s state legislature but advocates of the measure are pushing for local level passage in Oldham and other counties across the state.

Just as vocal advocates of the bill were given opportunity to show their support during a previous meeting, voices opposing the measure got their chance to speak out At the Mar. 3 meeting of the Oldham County Fiscal Court.

There will be a public meeting on the development of Westport Park held on Thursday, March 26, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Westport Baptist Church Family Life Center located at 6415 Washington Street, Westport.

After weeks of consideration, the Oldham County Fiscal Court is planning to move forward with a right to work ordinance, while talking to surrounding counties about joining them.

The Oldham Fiscal Court had a first reading of the measure at its meeting Wednesday, which was rescheduled due to weather. Such an ordinance would forbid unions from forcing employees to pay union dues whether they want to or not. Critics of the idea call it “right to work for less” because they claim it would lower union membership, thereby hampering collective bargaining.